Effect of Hemorrhage on Red Cell and Plasma Volume of Various Organs of the Dog

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Abstract
Dogs were anesthetized with a morphine-pentobarbital combination. Red cell volumes were measured by radioactive Cr51 and plasma volumes with radioactive I131. The dogs were killed by bleeding and the organs were digested. Aliquot samples of the organs were counted. Twenty minutes after a hemorrhage averaging 46% of the initial blood volume, 7.0 cc/kg of fluid with a mean protein content of 3.2 gm/100 cc entered the circulation. There were 6.7 cc/kg of fluid lost from the organs with 67% of the total coming from the stomach, intestine and skin. After the hemorrhage 2.4 cc/kg of red cells were trapped according to the blood volume calculations, but the cells were not recovered from the organs. The control dogs had 14.1 cc/kg of residual (‘extra’) plasma and after hemorrhage 7.3 cc/kg from the blood volume calculations. Calculation of residual plasma from the organ data agreed well (control 13.8 cc/kg and after hemorrhage 6.1 cc/kg) with the blood volume calculations. Residual plasma remained essentially the same percentage of the blood volume in control and bled dogs.